One was a windswept ghost town where a fan could freeze his giblets off as he and 6,000 of his closest friends braved a midsummer night game against the Expos. The other was a relatively warm madhouse, usually on a weekend afternoon, often when the Dodgers were in town and Giants fans rushed through the turnstiles in the tens of thousands to get their baseball fix.

Sept. 18, 1997, was such a day, but the date hardly matters. Everyone knows it as the Brian Johnson Game.

Of all the games I covered at the Stick from 1988 through 1999, this one stands out for its spine-tingling chills, drama and the fantastic story line of an unimposing journeyman catcher, born and schooled in the Bay Area, stepping into the teeth of a pennant race and making history.

San Francisco had not been to the playoffs in eight years. Ten games remained in the 1997 season, and the Giants were fighting the Dodgers for the National League West title.

When they met at Candlestick to start a two-game series, the Dodgers led the Giants by two games. Dusty Baker's team pretty much had to sweep.

And it did.

After Kirk Rueter pitched a seven-inning gem in the first game, a 2-1 Giants victory, the teams played to a 5-5 draw for 11 innings the next afternoon before Johnson, a 29-year-old midseason acquisition from the Tigers, sent Mark Guthrie's first pitch of the 12th inning over the left-field fence to end a 6-5 victory that pulled the Giants even in the West.

It also ignited a celebration on the field and in the stands that shook the decrepit old building to its core.

My game story for The Chronicle started this way:

"Who said break dancing was a lost art? Wasn't that what Barry Bonds was doing when he sprang from the Giants' dugout like a banshee, flailing his arms, leaping into the air and speaking in tongues as he waited for Brian Johnson to finish the greatest 360-foot trot of his career?"

Later in the story, I wrote something that proved completely false.

"In a way," I said, "Johnson is being cheated. His homer may prove as vital to the Giants' hopes as Bobby Thomson's in 1951 or Robby Thompson's in 1993, but its importance will likely be lost in the fury of the nine games that remain."

The Giants won six of those nine and captured the West by two games.

The Brian Johnson Game was a classic Dodgers-Giants spleen-buster long before his heroics.

Barry Bonds had hit a three-run homer to help the Giants to a 5-1 lead, which they squandered. The late Rod Beck was asked to pitch the 10th inning of a 5-5 game and allowed singles by Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Raul Mondesi to load the bases with nobody out.

There was an abiding sense in the press box that the Dodgers not only were going to win the game, but also would virtually seal the West title by taking a two-game lead with eight to play.

Beck had none of it, though. He struck out Todd Zeile. Then, with the infield in, he got an aging, slow-footed Eddie Murray to ground to Jeff Kent, who started a home-to-first double play that ended the inning and sent Giants fans into delirium.

Beck pitched the 11th and 12th innings, too, getting the win when Johnson sent Guthrie's fastball out of the park.

It's funny. I covered bigger moments at Candlestick, including the 1989 pennant clincher when Will Clark beat the Cubs' Mitch Williams with a single and the World Series that followed, but for some reason the sights and sounds of the Brian Johnson game are more vivid to me.

Two years later, the Giants played their final game at the Stick - against the Dodgers. I have not set foot in the building since and feel no nostalgic need to do so before it is vaporized.

I imagine it will seem weird for Johnson not to see Candlestick as he drives up Highway 101, a trip he must have taken often when he played baseball and quarterback for Stanford.

He surely goes past Candlestick Point when he lands at SFO and rides to AT&T Park for Giants organizational meetings. He scouts for the team and had a big hand in prepping them for their 2012 World Series win against Detroit, the city he calls home.

After his big home run, Johnson played for the Giants in 1998 before bopping around to Cincinnati, Kansas City and - deliciously - ending his career with four at-bats in 2001 for the Dodgers.

He hit 49 career home runs.

The series

After 54 years of historic wins and losses, Candlestick Park is closing down. To commemorate the stadium's rich history, a team of Sporting Green writers share their most cherished memories. To follow the entire series, along with much more Candlestick content, go to sfchronicle.com/candlestick.